He initiated a public appeal reaching out to Catholics around the world urging them to pray and to protest against this impending outrage.

A press release was sent notifying of the plans to open the Fatima sanctuary to desecration, and to build a new “$47,600,000 huge stadium-like ‘interfaith’ facility” to accommodate such plans.

Under his guidance, The Fatima Center notified bishops, priests and apostolate supporters in North America and throughout the world, of these plans, asking all to participate in a worldwide prayer campaign, which included collecting pledges of Rosaries.

The Fatima Center also immediately began gathering signatures on a formal petition to the Pope and all the Portuguese bishops, demanding that such a project be halted completely.

Articles reporting on the heretical talks given at the Congress in Fatima, Portugal in October 2003, and the diabolical plans of shrine officials and the Portuguese hierarchy were published in Issue 75 of The Fatima Crusader.

The work of notifying and appealing to Catholics worldwide began immediately after the October 2003 Congress and continued for many months, culminating in 2 large efforts in Portugal:

In April of 2004, two staff members from The Fatima Center purchased two full pages of “ad” space in two major newspapers in Lisbon, in which were printed “An Open Letter to the Faithful of Portugal” which included a petition to the Pope and to the Portuguese bishops.

Father felt that notifying and reaching out directly to Portuguese Catholics would mobilize them to express their outrage on behalf of She Whom they so lovingly refer to as Nossa Senhora (Our Lady).

We encountered a bit of a problem in listing the name of the responsible party at the end of the “Open Letter”, and an address where the Portuguese could send their signed petitions and other inquiries, because the apostolate paperwork for formally founding an association in Portugal was still in process, and therefore, Our Lady’s apostolate could not be listed as the publisher of the ad.

The two members of The Fatima Center staff provided the solution by using their names with a P.O. Box address, as the publishers along with a qualifying preface, “On Behalf of The Fatima Center,” so there would be no doubt that it was Our Lady’s apostolate that was trying to warn the Portuguese people and enlist their aid.

Using their own names, however, caused them some problems. Their frequent visits to Fatima on behalf of Our Lady’s apostolate resulted, over time, in their names and faces being known to the enemies of Father and his work.

Beginning on the day the “Open Letter” was published, April 24, they were followed, harassed, and subjected to frequent attempts at intimidation by Town of Fatima police and by Shrine security guards as they carried on their work on behalf of Our Lady’s Apostolate.

Thousands of copies of the “Open Letter”, both in English and Portuguese, were printed and distributed beginning in early May, by hand to pilgrims at the Shrine, and by mail throughout Portugal.

Yes, as members of the Church Militant, Father Gruner and Our Lady’s Apostolate were doing everything possible to stop one of the many problems resulting from the failure of Catholics to heed the requests of Our Lady of Fatima: the progression of the diabolical.

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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of fatima.org.

About the Author

Joanna Swords is a long-time supporter of The Fatima Center, and one of the initial Fatima Center volunteers. She has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing. After working as a Registered Nurse for nearly 23 years, she left her nursing career and came to work for The Fatima Center. Over the past 20 years she has worked in a variety of different areas, including developing and managing the apostolate Volunteer Department, management of shipping and international distribution of Fatima Center literature, opened and/or coordinated the management of a number of North American and international offices, served as events coordinator, and developed and created new literature for the apostolate. She also has conducted workshops, presenting at a number of Our Lady’s Army of Advocates conferences. She currently spends most of her time on writing projects, updating apostolate literature and developing new literature, and still oversees the North American and International Volunteer Departments.